PARIS, January 14. /TASS/. Russia is disappointed with the lack of response by the European Union to Kiev’s violations of fundamental rights, Russia’s Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe Ivan Soltanovsky said in a statement on Thursday.
"We are more than disappointed with the silence of the European Union and other colleagues as well as observers of the Council of Europe amid inhuman practice of human rights violations by Kiev," Soltanovsky said.
"While expressing concerns over the Crimean Tatars' fate, Kiev is basically trying to suffocate Crimea by water blockade of the peninsula," the diplomat stated.
The envoy recalled that after Crimea’s reunification with Russia in 2014 the Ukrainian authorities fully cut it off from the North Crimean Canal, the key source of drinking water for the peninsula’s 2 mln population, including 500,000 Crimean Tatars and ethnic Ukrainians.
Soltanovsky stressed that as an inalienable part of Russia, Crimea fully honors the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights. The peninsula is "fully open for international observers, including the Convention’s consultative committee."
The envoy stressed that Kiev’s accusations regarding the situation with ethnic minorities in Russia’s Crimea were unfounded. "Over the past six years, Russia has been actively contributing to enhancing social and economic, cultural and religious rights of ethnic minorities living in Crimea," Soltanovsky said. According to the diplomat, this concerns representatives of Armenian, Bulgarian, Ukrainian, Greek, Crimean-Tatar, Italian and German communities.
"The efforts of Russia’s authorities on strengthening inter-ethnic peace and harmony are evident for any unbiased observer," Soltanovsky stressed. "In everyday life of Crimea there are no facts of ethnic tensions," the diplomat said.
Earlier on Thursday, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled there was no proof to back up a number of Ukraine’s charges against Russia over Crimea, the Russian Justice Ministry said. The ministry said that according to an intermediate resolution on the inter-state complaint "Ukraine vs Russia (Crimea)" over the events of 2014-2015 the ECHR ruled that a number of charges the Ukrainian authorities had put forward against Russia remained unproven. In part, this concerns alleged killings of civilians, groundless detentions and intimidation of foreign journalists, illegal confiscation of Ukrainian military personnel’s property, discrimination against ethnic Ukrainians, politically motivated criminal prosecution of pro-Ukrainian persons and refusal to register religious or other organizations.".